A Typical Day

I always recommend that you arrive early. There are a lot of things that need to be done, and it’s best to give yourself enough time. As a competitor, I like to arrive at the track around 7:30 am. I’ve seen people show up as late as 8:45, but this doesn’t give you any prep time.

When you first arrive, you’ll want to stop at registration. Registration is open from 7:30 am to 8:45 am. At registration you will provide information on you and your vehicle, sign the insurance waiver and pay your entry fee ($30 members/$40 non-members). Save $10 per event by joining the Club! Membership dues ($50) can be paid at registration and also provides access to other member discounts at shops and suppliers.

After you’re done at registration, you’ll want to find a place to pit. If you aren’t sure where you can pit, ask at registration. When looking for a place to pit, find a place that has enough room for all of the contents of your car and enough working area to get around your car. It’s good ettiquete to not crowd other people’s pit areas. Also, be sure you aren’t blocking access to someone else’s pit. If you’re unsure, ask someone who’s around.

After your car is emptied (including removal of floor mats, spare tires, loose articles, etc) you’ll want to take your car over to technical inspection. Here, your car will be checked over to be sure it’s safe and then classed appropriately. Any disputes with Tech should be directed to the autocross steward. Tech is open until 9:00 am.

Once your car passes Tech, you’ll probably want to go out and walk the course a couple of times. Walking the course gives you a chance to learn the course before competing.

At 9:30 am is a mandatory driver’s meeting. All drivers are required to attend. An announcement will be made prior to the meeting. At the meeting, the autocross steward will go over the day’s schedule, worker assignments and special considerations.

Immediately following the driver’s meeting, we allow first time drivers to have a practice run or two. This is so we can familiarize newbies with what an autocross is like before having to do it in a competition.

At 10:30 am, we will start the first set of runs. Depending on the work/run heat assignments, you’ll be doing one of three things, either driving first, working first or taking the first session off. Depending on turnout, we strive to give everyone six runs, plus have people only work one heat.

If there’s time left over after the event, and the event staff isn’t worn out enough, they’ll organize some fun runs. Those who wish to do fun runs will be split into a run/work heat so that there are always workers on course.

Once the timed runs are done, we’ll tally up the times and have a trophy presentation. The top-third in each class receives a trophy. We’ll usually round up in favor of the drivers if we’ve got enough trophies.

We ask that while the times are being tallied that others help with course clean up and packing the trailer.